In recognition of a U.S. legal system that is inherently racist and unjust, the Soltysik/Walker 2016 Campaign stands in solidarity with the September 9th prisoner work stoppage against prison slavery and supports the Decarcerate the Garden State project. We strongly encourage comrades in New Jersey to learn about Decarcerate the Garden State at http://decarceratenj.blogspot.com/ and get involved. Without your help, challenging and ultimately dismantling the for-profit prison system and the racist legal system that incarcerates people of color at an unconscionably disproportionate rate will be a near-impossibility. Together, substantive change is possible. Our Platform calls for the "dismantling of the prison industrial complex through reductions and dismantling of existing prisons, and an end to mass incarceration of people of color." Not only is support for a decarceration effort sensible, support for a decarceration effort is essential."
Related:
NEXT PHONE CONFERENCE MEETING 6:30 PM TUESDAY JULY 5
Conference
Call Meeting Tuesday 6:30 pm EST
Conf:712-770-4010-
Access 100577
This article will serve as the minutes of the meeting
of Decarcerate the Garden State that occurred tonight, June 28 with James
Turner, Shulonda Smith, Jim Brash and myself in attendance.
MEETINGS / DISCUSSIONS ALL OVER NJ!
Jim Brash at the meeting effectively stressed the need for
our September 9 efforts to do a better job of spreading out across the whole
state through panel discussions, leafleting and street organizing and other
events, attendance at organizational meetings and other means to explain our Decarceration
fight and the meaning of the September 9 events.
We need everyone to help with this. If
you are part of an organization or are connected to one and get get us an
audience at a group meeting where we can explain these issues and get your
involvement – please contact us IMMEDIATELY 908-881-5275 Decarc@DecarcerateNJ.org .
It was also stressed at the meeting about the need to engage
more organizations in the process of organizing and participating in
promotional activities for the September 9 effort. We have several powerful statements from
organizations and individuals – we need to leverage those statements and we
need to engage the 100s of organizations in the state. We have a historic moment to make this Decarceration
effort front and center in NJ – both because of the September 9 organizing and
also because of the Sentencing Project report and the 12:1 figure where NJ has
*the very worse* incarceration disparities of all states in the nation (a Black
NJ resident is 12 times as likely to be incarcerated as a white NJ resident).
LEAFLETING THURSDAY JUNE 30 1:30-4PM NEWARK SUPERIOR COUIRT 50 W. MARKET STREET: FIGHT NJ RACIAL DISPARITIES IN NJ SENTENCING
The importance of this Thursday’s (June 30, 1:30pm – 4pm) leafleting
effort outside the Essex County Superior Courthouse at 50 W. Market Street in
Newark NJ was discussed.
Our primary purpose is organizing the families
and those in danger of incarceration. We are also doing this to send a message
to the prosecutors, police, judges, attorneys and the system in general that
status quo racial factoring into criminal justice decision making in NJ has to
come to AN ABRUPT END . . .And those that have been subject to such racial
determinations in their "punishments" need immediate relief -
sentence commutation.
The process of over charging to force plea to a
deal for excessive years HAS TO STOP NOW - TODAY! THURSDAY! INCLUDING IN THE
MATTERS BEING HEARD THERE AND THROUGHOUT NJ!
This activity is a blueprint - hopefully we
will get several leafleting sessions out in front of each and every county
courthouse in the state between now and September 9 and then thereafter.
The courthouse is the proverbial modern day auction
block. We need to protest mass incarceration, mass enslavement - racial
determinants in police, prosecution, judgment, sentencing, treatment inside and
parole decision making.
If you can not make this Thursday but might be
available at another time - contact us 908-881-5275 - Decarc@DecarcerateNJ.org - also if you want to get involved at another
courthouse around the state.
Decarcerate / Legalize Unity - Can the Battles be Joined? This meeting will discuss challenges and opportunities for convergence of legalize decarcerating struggle and justice decarcerating struggle. We will also discuss the September 9 plans for a two tiered protest at the Statehouse.
PAPER AND FLIER DISTRIBUTION AT NORTHERN STATE PRISON JULY 9
James Turner is working on organizing events
around the North Jersey State facility on Doremus Street in Newark. We tentatively scheduled leafleting and NJ
Decarerator paper distribution to families visiting their loved ones there for
Saturday July 9 – details to be announced.
We will use the opportunity to get a feel for how to organize around the
site and determine the access to visitor traffic for face to face organizing.Stay tuned for more details.
EAST ORANGE ORGANIZING
Shulonda Smith will be distributing NJ
Decarcerator papers in East Orange. She
is also looking into a possible location for a Decarceration organizing
discussion in East Orange.
SPIKE THE STRIKE – EVERY FRIDAY!
At least week’s meeting (June 21) we discussed
making Friday’s SPIKE THE STRIKE AGAINST ENSLAVEMENT days for the purpose of
encouraging all participants and supporters of the September 9 shut down to
promote a FRENZY of social network activity – by forwarding links, memes. Articles,
event information but also doing organizing by phone, person, etc. around
September 9. Since September 9 is a
Friday – a spike as we count down each week closer to the date will help realign
our forces. We are going to promote this
idea in NJ and throughout the country.
To make it fun we are going to encourage participants to count how many
internet and other actions they have taken since the prior week and to post the
number in the event.
We will continue to meet each Tuesday, via
phone, the next meeting occurring Tuesday, July 5.
ONE ON ONE PHONE CONVERSATIONS
We have a lot going on with this but this will
not be successful without your active participation in all aspects of planning
and participation. We will be looking to
talk directly with each of you individually to discuss how to better engage
your participation in the planning and events.
Call us today to get on board 908-881-5275. You can also text your number and let us know
hwen is a good time to call you,
MOST RECENT STATUS REPORT
“Policies that turn every school discipline matter into a police matter will only exacerbate this matter, especially given the similar racial disparities in school discipline that are typical in New Jersey and throughout the nation,” Witanek wrote.
“Why does every possible infraction have to be run by the prosecutor’s office for possible police action?” he wrote. “There is no rule that every violation of law has to be prosecuted…what does this say about the future of New Jersey public schools that, under the whim of a local prosecutor, teachers get turned to snitches and education gets criminalized?” '
Somehow the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office has the power
to force by unilateral edict a school district to cede its disciplinary responsibilities
to tbe local police and prosecutors office – resulting in the criminalization
of what previously would have been considered minor and routine day-to-day
disciplinary matters.
Every single discipline matter in Collingswood NJ schools has to be referred
to the prosecutors office and investigated by the police. Total boondoggle – and what about all the
wasted tax dollars on police hours investigating chewing gum stuck under the
desk or hallway pushing match.
When did schools fall under the jurisdiction of the
prosecutors’ office? What police state
language in NJ state law allows this arrangement to be imposed – apparently via
edict by a prosecutor? Why can’t the
superintendent just say – no can do – we will let you know if we need police
help with anything.
NJ is the very worse state in the nation when it comes to
the disparity between the likelihood of a Black resident catching a prison
sentence vs. a white resident – a Black NJ resident is 12 times as likely to
end up in prison. That is twice the
national average of 6:1 which itself is horrendous.
Policies that turn every school discipline matter into a
police matter will only exacerbate this matter especially given the similar racial
disparities in school discipline that are typical in NJ and throughout the
nation.
What role does the Camden County prosecutors office play in
feeding this disparity? Should public
schools be part of these stats? Should
Collingswood superintendent – on behalf of the Camden County prosecutor – be greasing the skids and pushing kids into the juvenile system?
We have all heard of the school to prison pipeline – in Collingswood
NJ they are skipping the school – turning the schools into a prison – so now it
is the Collingswood Prison to Prison Pipeline.
What authority
does a prosecutor have to edict a school to do this and why does every possible
infraction have to be run by the prosecutors office for possible police action
- there is no rule that every violation of law has to be prosecuted - why would
this be going on and what does this say about the future of NJ public schools
that under the whim of a local prosecutor - teachers get turned to snitches and
education gets criminalized?
And how can teachers and administrators build meaningful educational
relationships based upon trust with their students if the definition of their
jobs includes being a police snitch?
Lets call them out and lets demand
this cozy little arrangement for police over time and ruining the lives of
children – criminalizing them for leaving their seat before the bell rings – is
brought to an immediate halt.
Another reason to oppose this is because if allowed to stand this can set a
dangerous precedent where prosecutors take over school after school and turn
them into virtual incarceration facilities.
Write to NJ Commissioner of Education David Hespe and tell him to assert
Department of Education authority over this police state intrusion into education
discipline matters.
Dear Superintendent Oswald and Commissioner Hespe.
Under what legal authority does the superintendent cede discipline code matters to the police and prosecutor? How does a prosecutor's office get away with unilaterally ordering a school district to allow it to handle all discipline matters? Why should every minor discipline matter be subject to possibly being criminalized? And how can Camden County afford all of the police over time to cover school discipline issues?
How does the NJ State Commissioner of Schools sit on the sideline and watch this happen?
Is it your plan to implement such police state tactics across the whole state?
Is this a trial balloon?
Where is the mandate for this and what legal authority is governing this police takeover of Collingswood schools?
The Sentencing Project has found that NJ has the worse racial disparities in incarceration rates - a Black resident is 12 times as likely as a white to catch a prison sentence. We all know that similar disparities permeate the schools across NJ and the nation regarding discipline matters.
THe State Senate just passed a measure that requires all new criminal justice related matters to have a racial impact study. Who did the diligence of raical impact of this prosecutor takeover?
Who bears responsibility for the potential lives ruined by criminalization of Collingswood students and the education opportunities ruined by turning teachers into snitches.
Thu 6/30 1:30-4pm
Newark Superior Court
50 W Market Stm Newark, NJ
Leaflet Distribution Outside Courthouse
A recent report of the Sentencing Project has revealed that NJ has the worse racial disparity of all states in the US, with Black residents having a 12:1 probability vs. white residents to end up incarcerated. In response, Decarcerate the Garden State has developed a flier that raises these concerns. The plan is to hand the flier out along with our newspaper, The NJ Decarcerator, outside
Superior Courthouses around the state of NJ.
Our first planned distribution will be Thursday, 1:30 - 4pm at Newark Superior Court, 50 W. Market Street.
We are hoping for a team of 4 - 10 to handle the effort through more are certainly welcome.
The more participants we get - the more approach points of the courthouse we can cover. Ideally we would have teams of at least 2 and one should be ready to film any encounter with police that should develop. We will figure out the best way to cover the entrance and approach points from the sidewalk to avoid any excuses of authorities to try to trample our democratic First Amendment rights.
If you are interested, please RSVP on the Facebook event, call 908-881-5275 or write to Decarc@DecarcerateNJ.org
NJ’s 12:1 Incarceration
Ratio is Worse of All States in the US Racial Scorecards for Prosecutors, Courts, Police - And
Commutation Relief for those who have been OVER PROSECUTED AND OVER SENTENCED!
A recent Sentencing Project study reveals that in NJ– a Black person is 12 times as likely a
white to end up in prison. We need to *dig deeper into the data* to determine who are the actors
and what are the methods being utilized to deliver these disparities.
We need
racial scorecards for NJ judges, prosecutors, municipal and county courts,
police forces and individual police. Racial disparities should be
explained:
·Who gets arrested compared to the likelihood of each to commit
the offenses?
·For whom are excessive charges
used to force pleas and longer sentences?
·What are conviction rates
and what sentences are given for
similar crimes?
·What are arrest records vs. crime incidence vs. community
demographics of individual police, of precincts, of police captains, etc?
·For prosecutors,
analysis of racial factors in their
leniency or harshness, in their selection of which cases to prosecute, racial disparities in their conviction
rates, in plea bargaining and other
aspects of their prosecution.
What is
needed:
·Immediate
relief through amnesty and sentence commutation to time served for those found
to have been victimized by racial factors in any aspect of their encounter with
NJ’s criminal justice system.
·Address
the related social dynamics that contribute to behavior resulting in arrest.
·Identify
and weed out police, prosecutors, judges and attorneys general that show bias
in their administration of justice – determine if misconduct is a factor.
·Put in
place monitoring and training to prevent continuation of such racial
application of law enforcement and criminal justice in NJ.
The June 11 Continuations committee will hold a protest/rally at Horizon Healthcare, 949 Raymond Blvd in Newark. The time is Tuesday, June 28, at 3:30 PM.
It is very close to Newark Penn Station if you want to use NJ Transit or other public transportation.
This is a "bring your own sign" event. Here are a few suggestions:
O-M-N-I-A SPELLS "MONOPOLY"
HORIZON: PROFIT BEFORE PEOPLE
WE NEED UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE
OMNIA IS A HEALTH HAZARD
Also, more bad news: Hackensack UMC and Meridian are merging. Another healthcare behemoth that just *happens* to fall inside the OMNIA Tier 1.
Decarcerate the Garden State, Peoples
Organization for Progress and many other organizations are uniting NJ in
support of a nationwide prison labor shut down to protest against enslavement
of the incarcerated and more generally against mass incarceration on September
9 2016.
We are
hoping to work together with the legalize movement for the Trenton component of
this event which we plan to organize for the Statehouse.
This is
an opportunity for the legalize advocates to join together with other justice
oriented forces and to build greater unity - an opportunity to help organize
Trenton into a broader fightback around both the legalization and the closely
related decarceration efforts.
Bob
Witanek and possibly others will propose a plan for a unified effort for total
Trenton city mobilization for this event.
To be covered:
Details about proposed demonstration at Statehouse on September 9 and about the
concept of September 9, the organizations involved and the potentials
Discussion on the similarities and differences
between legalization and justice organizing including recommended precautions
when doing justice work
Proposals and discussion for lead in events:
a.Leafleting
Trenton public housing
b.Local
meetings between now and Sept 9 to publicize
c.Brainstorming
about how to accomplish full city mobilization
Trenton proposed: The proposal is to have an event at the Statehouse with two
sections: an hour or so with representation of justice related issues
with hopefully Black Lives Matter and UMIO participating. and the other hour
would be the issue of cannabis related concerns with the 25000 arrests - the
machine guns in the street at the Joint - both groups would also be supporting
the strike of prisoners and the other demands of the day - free political
prisoners (the cannabis section might also call for release of all cannabis
prisoners and immediate dismissal of all pending citations and pending fines),
50% reduction of NJ prisoners - we maybe will add something about the
Sentencing Project NJ twice as bad as rest of country in racial disparity. And
improved conditions in NJ facilities - we hope to have specific details about
that. The issue of theTrenton curfewmight also be addressed.
Sample Tweet: Defender Mothers/Others-Mutual Support-Families Impacted by NJ Racial Disparities in Criminal Justice #DecarcerateNJ http://bit.ly/28UWaBb
"I know of at least one situation coming up this week in Newark where a mother has reached out to me. If you might be interested in lending your support – please contact me and I will connect you to her."
What
if mothers of those that are incarcerated and facing incarceration in cities
across NJ (and around the nation) started up Defender Committees to support
each other and advocate together? What
if they mobilized for courthouse proceedings – met for press conferences and
pickets with signs outside the court and / or went into the courtoom during the
trial to sit with the mother and other loved ones of the accused and
through their physical presence – convey to the court, the prosecutor and the
system that the community is aware of the situation, monitoring and prepared to
act accordingly against any aspect of racism seeping into the proceedings?
The challenge is that nobody wants to be seen as pro-crime especially in communities
beset with violence and street crime.
However, no matter what anyone did or did not do - there are serious
disparities from top to bottom in how so-called criminal justice is meted out
in NJ – a 12:1 ratio of likelihood to catch a prison sentence for NJ’s Black
population vs. its white population.
Nobody would be saying that some might not need to be separated from the
community for a time – but that children and loved ones should not be OVER
prosecuted - over charged - over
sentenced
which is exactly what is happening to NJ’s Black alleged offenders as
documented in the Sentencing Project report,
A
mutual support committee among mothers and family members that have a common
interest in seeing racism eradicated from the equation could provide watch dog
monitoring, occasionally picketing and press conferences, attendance of each
others cases, etc. It would be an
undertaking but it could be the kinds of struggle needed to start to drive the
scourge of mass incarceration concentrated on NJ’s Black population back on a
case-by-case basis.
The reality is that the determination of the court is largely influenced by the
political climate. NJ’s racist climate
when it comes to justice related issues now is the determining factor. Intervention from impacted families,
especially mothers, and advocates can begin the fightback around these issues.
If
you are interested in such an approach, or you have a case where you can use
support – please contact Decarc@DecarcerateNJ.org/ 908-881-5275 and I will try to connect you with others.
I know of at least one situation coming up this week in Newark where a mother
has reached out to me. If you might be
interested in lending your support – please contact me and I will connect you
to her.
comparing the states based upon the rate racially of white versus Black catching
a prison sentence has revealed that NJ has the worse racial disparity in the
entire nation – a Black person in NJ is 12 times as likely a white to end up in
prison. Comically (almost) when the
media first reported on this information they described the disparity
incorrectly – the headlines first said that for every white in NJ’s statefacilities there are 12 Blacks. That was
incorrect.
While NJ’s over all rates of incarceration for both white
and Black are better than much of the nation, the racial differences are *the
very worse* in the nation. These
revelations underscore the need for the work of Decarcerate the Garden State
and provide an exclamation point for the importance of the September 9thorganizing we are focused upon.
One response spearheaded by Rev. Charles Boyer in NJ is to
support the passage of legislation calling for racial impact statements with
any new legislation in NJ that affects criminal justice issues.
This is an important effort.
It will be voted upon in the full Senate this Monday, June 27. Decarcerate the Garden State has contacted
its legislators via e-mail and twitter supporting a YES vote and we urge our
membership to do the same. Here is the
latest PSA (on behalf of Rev. Boyer) from our blog site urging everyone to also
contact their legislator. Please follow
suit and get your letters, calls, tweets in to your representatives immediately.
We should not stop there however. The racial disparity is a severe issue and we
need to further analyze the reasons for it and to *dig deeper into the data* to
determine who are the actors and what are the methods being utilized to deliver
these horrendous discrepancies.
NJ should do a study and if the state is unwilling to fund
such a study, media outlets and researchers, on campuses and in organizations should
take it up. To put it bluntly – we need
to develop racial scorecards for NJ judges, NJ prosecutors, NJ municipal and
county courts, police forces and individual police. We need to analyze the data and break it
down. Racial disparities should be
explained – controlling for factors.
Things that need to be determined include:
Who is arrested for what offenses compared to the propensity
of each group to commit such offenses.
What are the number of charges applied for a single incident
or offense? Are charges being wobbled
and then leveraged to force pleas and longer sentences?
What are the conviction rates for similar crimes?
What are the sentences meted out for similar convictions.?
What are arrest records vs. crime incidence vs. community
demographics of individual police, of precints, of officers under police
captains, etc?
For prosecutors, analysis of racial factors in their leniency
or harshness, in their selection of which cases to prosecute, racial
disparities in their conviction rates, in plea bargaining and other aspects of
their prosecution.
There are probably many other aspects of NJ meting out of “criminal
justice” that need to be placed under the microscope.
We also should start calling attention to these issues by
picketing courthouses that have particularly egregious records – or calling
press conferences outside while court is in session. On the one hand the press conferences and
pickets can correspond with particular cases that bear further examination to
determine if race is a factor but on the other hand – that might not be
necessary because it is clear that race is always a factor in NJ from the
patrol, to the arrest, to the charging, to the treatment in jail, to the bail,
to the scheduling of the trial, to the prosecution, to the conviction rates, to
the sentencing, and then to the treatment in prison and to the eligibility and
approval for parole (and many other aspects).
It is imperative. To
let this study be just one more set of statistics that we complain about
without acting upon the results just guarantees that the bleak quality of life
will continue for much of NJ’s residency, particularly the Black residency –
but all of us as well since racially concentrated mass incarceration destroys community potential.
Once we more fully understand NJ’s racial dynamic in
criminal justice we can determine the solutions:
1.First and foremost provide immediate relief
through amnesty and sentence commutation to time served for all of those found
to have been victimized by racial factors in any aspect of their encounter with
NJ’s discriminating criminal justice system.
2.Address the related social dynamics that
contribute to behavior resulting in arrest.
3.Identify and weed out police, prosecutors,
judges and attorneys general that show bias in their administration of justice.
4.Put in place monitoring and training to prevent
continuation of such racial application of law enforcement and criminal justice
in NJ.
Meanwhile we should address these issues in our organizing
around September 9 and we should start a full court press with picketing,
leaflet distribution and press conferences outside courthouses where these
racial factors are being applied.
These issues are complex so care must be taken but for the
report to flow downstream with only lip service from politicians and inaction
from the community will allow this problem only to grow worse.
The following is a PSA on behalf of Rev. Charles Boyer of NJ Campaign for Racial Impact Statements Rev. Charles Boyer is on board with our September 9 efforts - see statement.
ll your State Senator to VOTE YES MONDAY for S.677 to Challenge Racial Disparity in the New Jersey Criminal Justice System
Thanks to you, our momentum is building! S.677 which requires racial and ethnic impact statements will receive a full Senate vote on Monday, June 27, 2016 at 2PM!
We need your help to make sure this important bill passes the Senate
I have read the recent report published by The Sentencing Project that shows New Jersey is the worst state in the nation regarding racial disparities in the state's prisons. This must be stopped! As your constitute I encourage you to VOTE YES ON S.677 on Monday regarding Racial Impact Statements.
Sincerely,
YOUR NAME
ADDRESS
ORGANIZATION
You can find your legislator’s contact information here.
ADDITIONAL WAYS YOU CAN SUPPORT!
If you haven't already you can also sign on to support the legislation here
Help Us Share The Good News On Twitter – tweet this post: Challenge #RacialDisparity in the New Jersey #criminaljustice system. NJ SENATORS VOTE YES on #S677
Spread Awareness on Facebook – share the status below on Facebook
“Challenge #RacialandEthnicDisparity in the New Jersey criminal justice system. NJ SENATORS VOTE YES for #S.677! New Jersey incarcerates blacks at 12X the rates of whites. THE WORST IN THE NATION
Forward this to everyone in your network so we can continue to build the momentum!
Also please download the report issued by The Sentencing Project which shows New Jersey as the Nation's leader in racial disparities in prisons.
Fighting for Salvation and Social Justice Rev. Charles F. Boyer
NJ Campaign for Racial Impact Statements
Pastor Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church Woodbury NJ
Send to all of the with one e-mail by copying the following addresses to your mail message:
NEXT PHONE CONFERENCE MEETING 6:30 PM TUESDAY JUNE 28
Conference
Call Meeting Tuesday 6:30 pm EST Conf:712-770-4010-
Access 100577
What we need for all participants and interested people to do:
Read through this plan of action and determine which parts of the events on
September 9 and the organizing until then that you can plug into.
Help identify organizations in your area of the state or that you have
connection to that could be interested in being part of this effort.
Offer suggestions on other activities, on lead up activities,
places in your community where we can possibly meet, organizations that you
might be able to suggest to that they invite us as guest at their meeting, etc.
We need your help – you need to tell us what can you do and what
are you willing to do to make this successful?
Minutes
of meetings from June 14 and June 21 are combined into this status
June 14 Attendance: John Burns, Michael Mirsky, Carol Serebreny,
Bob Witanek
John Burns has proposed to the Black Lives Matters chapters to get involved,
was going to look into assisting with art work
Carol Serebreny is interested in helping with literature, leaflet and writing /
editing needs
Plan updates from meeting are incorporated below.
June 21 Attendance, Malik, Renee Felton, Shulonda Smith, Jamhar James, Ed
Forchion
Malik is Irvington based – will look into organizations around there and
suggests working with Enok Rodriguez of Zulu Nation organization
Renee will look into possibilities around Jersey City and will
work to get statement from Southwoods Family United
Shulonda is going to look into possibility of a meeting in East Orange and she
is going to get some papers and once we produce them, fliers for distribution
Ed is making the restaurant Weedman’s Joint available for a
Trenton meeting on June 30.
Plan updates from meeting are incorporated below.
Fridays, 6/24. 7/1, 8, 15, 22, 29, 8/5, 12, 19, 26, Sept 2 – Spike the Strike
Social Network
We encourage supporters to constantly be promoting information about these
efforts in social networking but to escalate and dedicate every Friday to
making sure there is extensive sharing, tweeting, etc. of these materials.
Outreach to prison families visiting Saturdays / Sundays – To be
determined
“Noise” Demonstration at North Jersey State facility – To be
determined
Meetings in Newark – To be determined
Leafleting of public housing projects – To be determined
Other meetings at various locations around state – To be
determined
Activities planned on September 9 – 10
Newark proposed:
We will ask POP to assist in coordinating Newark. The proposal is to have
an event at the county jail and if there are resources available – possibly a
car pool over to the state facility on Doremus for a 2ndrally.
Lead-ins–
Planned “noise demonstration” and possibly visitor outreach at North Jersey
(Doremus). Meetings at Library, other downtown meeting rooms (South
Orange Av).
Is full city mobilization possible? Leafleting to
projects?
Trenton proposed: The proposal is to have an event at the Statehouse with two sections: an hour or so with representation of justice
related issues with hopefully Black Lives Matter and UMIO participating. and
the other hour would be the issue of cannabis related concerns with the 25000
arrests - the machine guns in the street at the Joint - both groups would also
be supporting the strike of prisoners and the other demands of the day - free
political prisoners (the cannabis section might also call for release of all
cannabis prisoners and immediate dismissal of all pending citations and pending
fines), 50% reduction of NJ prisoners - we maybe will add something about the
Sentencing Project NJ twice as bad as rest of country in racial disparity. And
improved conditions in NJ facilities - we hope to have specific details about
that. The issue of the Trenton curfew might also be addressed. Is full city mobilization possible? Leafleting
projects.
Camden
What has been discussed so far is possibly some sort of rally at
the County Jail in Camden. I have been invited to a community meeting by
John Royal though it is not completely scheduled yet. Hopefully at such a
meeting the proposal can be announced and improved upon and the process of fine
tuning what exactly Camden does can commence. Is full city mobilization
possible? Leafleting projects.
Bridgeton
Would it be better for Bridgeton to go to Camden or to do
something locally in Bridgeton at the Cumberland County Jail (where there have
been jailhouse deaths).
New Brunswick – Fountain activity?
Highland Park
Panel Discussion evening September 10 hosted by Central Jersey Coalition
Against Endless War
Atlantic City?
Asbury Park? Randall
Thompson, Help Not Handcuffs
Everybody interested in making this happen should pick one of
the events being proposed or offer another idea that they are willing to work
on in a different area. It could be easier to get more people involved by
having events that people do not have to travel a distance to.
NJ Campuses
On as many campuses as follows, have leafleting and newspaper
distribution at the campus cafeterias, covering as many cafeterias and as many
meals as feasible. (Up to 5 copies given to anyone expressing especial
interest – clipboards to take names, contact info of interested students.)
Rider Kenny Dillon
Rutgers Newark Jan Makovec
Bergen County James Turner
High Schools
Decarcerate the Garden State officially or unofficially is not encouraging any
high school student walk outs at this time. Youth must assess any risk of
participation in these events and probably should get support of their parents
should they choose to support this call in any way.
Activities leading up to Sept 9
June 30 at the Joint – meeting to discuss
plans for Trenton 9/9
Camden,attendance
at Village meeting
Newark,meetings
possibly at library, South Orange, AFL, Friends, elsewhere?
Leafleting projects? Planning meetings in
Trenton. Meetings between two groups.
Who can invite us to speak at a meeting, event or help plan a
special meeting for this purpose? The more the merrier/
